A Way Out

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"A Way Out" is the tenth and final episode of Season One of The Man in the High Castle, and the tenth episode of the series overall. This episode, along with the rest of the season, was made available for streaming on Amazon Video on November 20th, 2015.

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Plot

Frank and Juliana stand shocked and confused by what they just saw in the film, Juliana suddenly states that 'the man' kneeling next to Frank in the film was familiar but cannot identify exactly. Joe Blake arrives and find Juliana and Frank just starring at his presence, Joe asks for the film but Frank refuses which results in the two fighting over it. Juliana pleadingly ask Joe if he isn't really a Nazi, he doesn't reply but takes the film and leaves. Shortly after, they tell everything that happened to Karen and Lemuel and plead help from them to escape the Pacific States since Frank is wanted by the Kempeitai.

John Smith is preparing his rifle for his hunting trip with Reinhard Heydrich in the woods, Helen expresses his concern and fear of Heydrich. John assures her that he won't kill him but requests his wife that if he doesn't come back from the trip, she must not let Heydrich go near their children and gives her a pistol. Meanwhile, Chief Inspector Kido, together with Sergeant Yoshida, begin their important mission of infiltrating the true assassin of the Crown Prince, Nazi Major Karl Muller. Muller, while raising his hands, calmly allows Kido and Yoshida to inspect his hotel suite, Yoshida eventually finds the Sniper Rifle Muller used to shoot the Crown Prince, when Muller confirms and ownership he is immediately shot dead by Kido despite Muller prepared to make a confession. Afterwards, they rummage through Muller's documents, Yoshida expresses his confusion as to why Kido chose to kill Muller instead of apprehending him, Kido explains that the Nazis wanted them to arrest Muller so that Japanese officials would be outraged and eventually provoke a war against Nazi Germany, to which both men know their Empire is not yet prepared for. Yoshida still points out that Tokyo cannot be satisfied without the capture of the assassin, Kido reveals that he intends to 'sacrifice' himself in order for their secret mission not to be revealed and that Yoshida be his successor, by this, Yoshida respectfully bows before Kido and continues their work.

Karen grants them an escape to Mexico but on one condition; that Juliana catch and kill Joe Blake to prevent him from delivering the film and their names to the Nazi High Command. Juliana refuses assassinate Joe Blake, so Lemuel volunteers to do it for her, he asks Juliana to lure Joe out to him for the kill. Karen tells Juliana that Joe is likely seeking shelter in the Nazi Embassy and that she can get in by the forged identity papers Karen and Lemuel made, after finding him she must lure Joe Blake to them and retrieve the film.

John Smith meets up with Reinhard Heydrich in Catskill Mountains, John notices that Reinhard has a Nazi soldier accompanying them. As they travel to the woods, Reinhard converses to John about the obvious suspicion John has been developing on him and appears to confess himself to John about his intentions to remove him by asking if John suspect that Reinhard gave the order to kill John during the ambush with the Semites and also declares that 'the world will change forever today' to John, but he silently listens.

It then shifts to the capital of the Greater Nazi Reich, Berlin, Rudolph Wegener is being questioned by an officer with him in the car about his sudden request to meet with the Führer personally, he assures him that he is just tired and is finally back home. At the Embassy, Joe Blake is greeted by Ambassador Reiss who introduce him to SS officer Oliver Diels, when Diels and Blake are left alone, Diels asks if his mission was a success, Joe informs him that it is classified to be talked about.

Trade Minister Tagomi is visited by Chief Inspector Kido who informs him that Juliana Crain will no longer be allowed to work with him since she is in connection with Frank Frink the suspected assassin of the Crown Prince, to Tagomi's surprise also, Kido reveals that he actually knew Tagomi was the one who helped Wegener leaved from the Pacific States, Tagomi fears that he may be arrested and questioned but Kido continues that he also knew 'why he Tagomi did so', and assures Tagomi that he will remain silent for the sole reason of keeping the Japanese Empire secured. Tagomi asks why is he revealing all this now, Kido does not explain exactly why but tells to Tagomi that their time has come when 'all men must bear the weight of their responsibility'. He bows farewell to Tagomi but before he can leave, Tagomi calls to him and bows also to express his gratitude to Kido.

In Berlin, Wegener visits his divorced wife and children, after managing to convince his wife, she allows him to see their daughter, Klaudia and their son, Otto. Klaudia is joyful for her farther's return and even offers him two gifts and request the other be given to the Führer, Otto however remains silent of his father's presence. Wegener picks him up and hugs him while he expresses his struggle of being a good man as his former wife watches, he gives one final embrace to his daughter and son, and kiss goodbye to his former wife.

While working, Ed waits for the right time to walk over a nearby forge in order to get rid of the pistol that was made by John to assassinate the Crown Prince, when the men live the workspace he grabs the opportunity, but his boss suddenly checks up on him and he drops the gun. He tries to make up an excuse but when his boss inspects the gun, he realizes that it's the pistol the Kempeitai have been searching for. Meanwhile, Kotomich informs Tagomi that people are waiting for him in a meeting, he ignores this and expresses his claim that everything he has done was foolish, Kotomich assures him that he is a good man and 'perhaps too good for this world', and that he must not give up on his meditation, when Tagomi turns around to listen he stops. He again reminds Tagomi of the meeting, Tagomi decides to cancel it and excuses himself for the day.

Chief Inspector Kido finally receives a letter from Tokyo that forces him to commit Seppuku for having failed to capture the assassin of the Crown Prince. Before he can do so, Sergeant Yoshida walks up to him just as Kido offers him a Samurai sword to complete the practice, but Kido looks up and finds Yoshida holding the pistol they've been looking for, preventing Kido from finishing Seppuku.

Back at the Embassy, Joe Blake answers a phone call and discovers that Major Klem has been calling Ambassador Reiss to know if Joe has arrived at the Embassy, they begin to grow suspicious and urge Joe caution to SS Officer Diels as he reports directly to Heydrich and that he stay away from him, however, Diels arrive and offers him escort, Major Klemm orders a team to the Embassy after hearing this. Joe asks Diels if John Smith has contacted them, Diels claims they have and they continue their journey down the embassy. Around this time, Reinhard Heydrich finally raises the curtains as he holds John gunpoint by the Nazi soldier accompanying them.

Lemuel leaves Juliana on her journey to the Embassy and succeeds in getting inside. Diels tells Joe that he has to go through the basement level for his own safety, when he finds Diels not watching him anymore he quietly looks outside the door and find that a couple of Nazi officers waiting for him to come out and be killed. Joe backs away, realizing it's a trap, and he manages to find his way to the main floor of the Embassy, just as Juliana passes by. She calls for Joe and is surprise of how she got here, they continue their conversation outside the Embassy. Once outside, she angrily lashes out on Joe not telling the truth of him being a Nazi, she informs Joe that they watch the film his holding and it depicts him of being a Nazi officer executing people. Startled by this revelation, Joe Blake manages to dismiss this as fake and reveals to Juliana that he also watched one of the films back at Canon City, a Soviet propaganda newsreel depicting Josef Stalin in 1954 even though Stalin was executed by the Nazis in 1949, leading Joe to his affirm his claim that what Juliana saw was not real. Joe then asks for Juliana help to get back to New York so that he can clear Juliana and everyone she knows' names from the Nazi High command.

Chief Inspector Kido and Sergeant Yoshida are interrogating Ed McCarthy about the firearm they confiscated, McCarthy tries to reason for its destruction that it was a serious offense to possess one but Kido tells him that witnesses lay claim that the type of gun they saw during the Crown Prince's speech is exactly the one he holds, they asks him if he was the one that shot the Crown Prince and not Frank Frink.

At the Austrian Alps, Colonel Wegener is almost near for his meeting with Adolf Hitler in a heavily fortified castle that serves as the Furher's Headquarters. While in Catskill Mountains, John is being held captive by Reinhard and his Nazi adjutant, revealing his intentions of betraying the Führer and plans to conquer the rest of the Japanese Empire, particularly America, he informs John the telephone near him will ring soon and that he must decide on whether to fully devote loyalty to Reinhard or not once it does.

Meanwhile, Karen notifies Frank that they need to go right now to the docks since she is informed that there's a drop on the presence of Kempeitai authorities after they've captured the person responsible for the Crown Prince's assassination. Frank realizes that Ed might be in danger and calls his father, Jim McCarthy answers angrily to Frank indicating that Ed has been captured and will likely be killed, holding Frank responsible. This jeopardizes their plan as Frank hurriedly decides to head for the Kempeitai.

Back at the Führer's headquarters, Wegener approaches where the Führer is staying and finds him watching newsreel films depicting scenes of the Soviet onslaught of Berlin in an alternate World War II. The Führer invites Wegener to join him, Wegener asks what the film is showing, Hitler vaguely replies ''What might have been''. Hitler asks him about what he knows on destiny, Wegener answers with the saying from Tagomi but Hitler corrects this by saying that ''Destiny lies in the hands of a few men.''. When Hitler begins removing and taking the film he watched back to his collection of other films (confiscated films from the Man of the High Castle), Wegener prepares to enact the assassination by grabbing the pistol opened from a container. John Smith asks one final question to Reinhard, if he is not alone in this conspiracy. When Wegener prepares to fire the gun at Hitler, he is interrupted in shocked as Hitler faces Wegener and knows that he was sent by Heydrich to kill him but also knows he is not capable of doing it. Hitler tells his disappointment of Wegener after he lost faith in the Reich, but Wegener replies that he lost faith once he committed evil in his name. Hitler tries to reason with Wegener strongly that if he kills him, a war with Japan will come because of his actions, so he offers him a chance to die honorably and also sparring his family in the process. Wegener is now shakened, afraid of what to do, and asks for God's forgiveness.

The telephone rings and Reinhard picks it up, but first asks if John Smith has decided to join them, John denies the offer then Reinhard answers the phone. However, to his shock, the man who answers is not Wegener but the Führer himself, suddenly his adjutant is shot and in the chaos, both John and Reinhard race for their rifles. Fortunately, John beats Reinhard to it and incapacitates him. On the other line of the phone, it is revealed Wegener chose not to kill Hitler and instead commits suicide. Smith answers the phone and informs the Führer that he has apprehended the traitor, Heydrich.

At the docks, Juliana points out to Joe a ship (originally for her and Frank) for him to get onto to flee. Joe gives his gratitude to Juliana, they silently approach the boat where unbeknownst to Joe that he is being led right to a trap as Karen, observing from above, informs Lemuel to get ready for the kill as he waits for Juliana to open the door and lure Joe inside. As they near the door, they both stop as Juliana tips Joe in apology that he is about to be killed by the Resistance, he apologizes to Juliana in sorrow and tells her that she has changed her and is not going to be the person he was depicted in the film she saw, so he offers it back. Juliana finally lets go of her belief in the film and tells Joe she believes in him and not the film.

Kempeitai authorities are now escorting Ed to captivity just as Frank arrives and watches the scene unfold, he is stopped by Japanese authorities as he tries to change Kido's mind that he is the real assassin to release Ed but to no avail.

Lemuel contacts Karen as he is growing impatient, Karen tries to find out where they are from above and she finds that Joe has ridden onto the boat heading for Mexico. Lemuel and Karen race to stop him but are too late and ask in shock as to why Juliana did it.

Meanwhile, Tagomi sits down on a bench in a local park and begins meditating again after being motivated by Kotomichi. He grasps Juliana's heart necklace and concentrates on meditating as he closes his eyes, the place around him begins to blur out. When he opens them again, the place around him has drastically altered appearing to be now in the 1960s era of the alternate United States in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis.